Brian Johnson was 1,254 miles from Gainesville, playing in the Cape Cod League, when he began to feel some discomfort in his shoulder.
Florida’s junior left-handed starting pitcher immediately knew who to call. He got in touch with Paul Chandler, Florida baseball’s strength and conditioning coordinator, and discussed his training regimen in South Yarmouth, Mass. The two decided that there was just one factor missing.
“We found a nearby pool and after a couple of times of getting back in, his arm went right back down to how it normally feels,” Chandler said.
The request for a pool was all part of a training method that has become commonplace at Florida.
For 11 years, Chandler was a competitive swimmer, and he decided the pool could be a good place to train his pitchers.
Chandler was looking for a way to make sure each UF pitcher had equal flexibility and strength in each shoulder when he discussed with Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan reverting to his competitive background for a possible unconventional advantage.
The result was a program that puts UF hurlers in the O’Connell Center pool two days per week during the offseason and once per week during the season.
Workouts are 20-30 minutes long and include freestyle and backstroke drills.
“It’s a different form of exercise — lengthens the muscle in the shoulder,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s something that was fun and we’ve seen our pitchers recover quicker. It’s been a benefit for us, for sure.”
Chandler named the workouts the Pitchers Velocity Conditioning program and believes it is the only plan of its kind in college baseball.He said the program validates itself in results.
The swimming decreases inflammation in the arm and allows pitchers to maintain the same velocity they have in their first 10 pitches later in games when their counts reach upwards of 70.
“It’s helped tremendously,” junior starting pitcher Hudson Randall said. “It’s just resistance, just like you do your bands or weights as a pitcher ... but in water it’s resistance all the time.
“It really stretches you out, works muscles you really don’t notice working out with weights.”
Maybe the biggest area where the pool training has shown its benefits early this season is in the adjustments made by sophomore right-hander Jonathon Crawford. After a very limited 2011, Crawford dropped his arm slot in his pitching motion this year and the result has been more strikes and better control.
In some cases an arm- slot change can cause increased inflammation, but Chandler credits the pool exercises with that not being the case at UF.
“They’ve got so much balance with their shoulder and so much more feel for their arm, the arm slot change happens and then you don’t have as much inflammation,” Chandler said.
Chandler has said that his pitchers love the PVC program, and O’Sullivan sees nothing negative about the approach.
However, for players who have spent their entire lives around the diamond, a weekly trip to the natatorium can bring about some humor.
“I don’t wanna call anybody out, but (freshman pitcher) Ryan Harris doesn’t look too good in the water,” Randall said.
Florida junior starting pitcher Hudson Randall said he enjoys strength coach Paul Chandler’s pool exercises, adding that the resistance has helped him tremendously.
